payg iphone versus contract iphone

kazd

Hi

I am going to get an iphone in May but am weighing up whether its cheaper to get contract or pay up front.

Looking at 16g £159 + 18 month contract @ £35 per month.

versus

payg £400 for phone with 12 months unlimited internet access then 6 months @ £10 for internet. Plus airtime. 02 website shows £10 gets you something like 600 mins and ex amount of text. Do you have to pay this every month to get these minutes or can you just buy £10 whenever you need it. I don't need this many minutes every month but wondered whether you have to commit to this £10 monthly fee for airtime.

i-Citizen

I got the iphone on payg for £390, its an overpriced, overated piece of crap that just has a nice interface. thats all, why bother getting it at all. I say if your waiting till may, then look at the n97. Im returning mine tomorrow, and getting the c905 delivered tomorrow too from cpw.

Sorry if I didnt help, but if you were to get an iphone, get it on payg and simplicity which was my original idea, but its crap, I did like the ipod feature though but overall for me the negatives outweigh the positives - you cant even have your own mp3 ringtones

esmecullen

If you are going for an iPhone then go for the contract. PAYG is all well and good but if you are a frequent user, ie calling, browsing internet and texting then go for the contract, you also get visual voicemail as well as unlimited internet included in your contract.

Jon_01

i-Citizen wrote: »

. Im returning mine tomorrow, and getting the c905 delivered tomorrow too from cpw.

Without wanting to hijack the thread, my lads had a 905... The wifi didn't work, the gps didn't work and it kept switching it's self off... it went back. The network branding it blamed for most of the problems . . .

i-Citizen

mines unlocked and unbranded - many of the problems c905 faces is becuase operators stick their bloated firmware on it.

RJharrow

I had my iphone on PAYG since am not a heavy user anyway, but having used Apple products for quite some time, Iphone was a great addition....and I was able to used my own ringtone, it's just a matter of knowing how to do it...

i-Citizen

Yes i knew how to do mp3 ringtones on the iphone - but I had to google it up, something so easy which has been available on phones for the last 4 years or more, was so hard.

Diggiloo

You may as well go on contract as after one year you'll have to pay an extra £10 per month to have unlimited data.

kazd

Thanks but really my question is re the minutes, if i buy £10 airtime it gives me about 600 mins - do these mins only last for one month. ie do you have to do a regular monthly top up to get these minutes.

At the moment for eg, i put a tenner on my kids phones and they can last anything from a couple of weeks to several months. (obviously this depends on which child you are talking about)

esmecullen

Hope this helps.

PAYG Sims are set up on what O2 call "Favorite Place" tariff

£10 - £14 top up will give you:

500 mins to any UK landline or O2 mobile from a registered postcode

£15 - £29 top up

1000 mins to any UK landline or O2 mobile from a registered postcode

£30+

Unlimited mins to any UK landline or O2 mobile from a registered postcode

Not sure whether this includes texts as well. Not entirely sure about PAYG costs as I was only on O2 PAYG for a short time and that was a few years back

O2 do say in the blurb that I've found for PAYG:

"This also includes unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after you activate your iPhone 3G*. At the end of the 12 months you can continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for just £10 per month. We'll notify you before the end of the 12 month period by text and you can easily unsubscribe if you choose to do so".

Contracts are

£30p.m

75 mins talk time, 125 texts

£35p.m

600 mins talk time, 500 texts

£45p.m

1200 min s talk time, 500 texts

£75p.m

3000 mins talk time, 500 texts

kayaitch

The above replies have not actually answered the question which is do you have to top up every month? I would like to know this as well, and it does appear from the O2 website that you have to top up by at least £10 a month, which really makes it more like a contract than pay as you go doesn't it. I think the best thing to do is go into an O2 or Carphone Warehouse shop and ask a sales person.